2005-01-13 Greens file Motion in JURI for Restart of Procedure
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The Greens in the European Parliament have sent a letter to the chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI), Giuseppe Gargani, asking for a restart of the procedure on the software patents directive. This will have the effect that the restart issue is on the agenda of the coordinators meeting of JURI next week. The outcome will depend on whether the majority of political groups will be backing the motion.
The Greens have issued a press release on this subject which was published on the Greens-EFA site in german and of which you may soon find an english version here. The English version is also printed below.
Original Texts of the Greens
Letter to Gargani
- Giuseppe Gargani MEP President of the Committee for Legal Affairs LOW T12036 Fax : 75168 Re : Directive on patentability of computer-implemented inventions (com(2002)092) Dear President, as you know, elections have taken place since the first reading of the Directive on patentability of computer-implemented inventions (com (2002) 092). As a consequence, with reference to article 55 of the Rules of Procedures, we believe that the conditions for a renewed referral of the Commission proposal are now met. Our belief is based also on the fact that the present uncertainty concerning patent-related risks has shown to have implications on the decisions taken by public administrations and the private sector, with regards to IT infrastructures, and produces negative effects on their ability to purchase software and services from Small and Medium Enterprises. We, therefore, kindly ask you to place this proposal on the agenda of the next meeting of the Legal affairs committee in order to have an exchange of views on the feasibility of restarting the co-decision procedure on this Directive.
Press Release
THE GREENS/EUROPEAN FREE ALLIANCE
PRESS RELEASE - Strasbourg 13 January 2005
Letter to Legal Affairs Committee:
Greens call for new start to software patents directive
The Greens in the European Parliament today sent a letter to the Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee calling for a restart to the legal procedure concerning the controversial software patents directive. In the submission to the President of the Committee, Giuseppe Gargani, Greens/EFA Co-President Monica Frassoni and Austrian MEP Eva Lichtenberger asked for the point to be included on the agenda of the Committee's next session (on Wednesday, 19 January).
Commenting on the initiative, Eva Lichtenberger, Member of the Legal Affairs, said:
- "We need a new start for the software patents directive. The
- situation in Council, who are now responsible for the legal procedure, is so confused that Parliament must again take the issue into its hands. The Ministers committed a big mistake on 18 May when they ignored Parliament's improvements and adopted a legislative proposal which principally serves the interests of big companies. Since then the situation has changed dramatically and some European governments were put under pressure by their own national parliaments to stop the introduction of software patents through the backdoor."
- growing IT sector. Small and medium enterprises would be hit especially hard as they cannot afford neither patenting fees nor the legal costs that would be involved. Member States should again consider if they are shooting themselves in the foot by pursuing US-inspired software patents. By doing so they would be gravely diminishing the innovative capacity and flexibility of European IT companies."
Monica Frassoni added:
- "The Greens will now create the necessary pressure so that a new
- procedure is started as soon as possible. With this new beginning we hope to finally be able to reach to a reasonable solution."
